Members of APFFLON and journalsists listen attentively to Otunba Ogunojemite at the briefing today.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) led by Otunba Frank Ogunojemite has expressed its feeling about the increase in terminal charges by the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) and as approved by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC).
In a press briefing which took place at the Ikeja Headquarters of the Association today, the president of the association lambasted the economic regulators of the maritime sector, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) as he described their behaviour as being tantamount to economic sabotage.
Otunba Ogunojemite said that “When the national single window policy was launched, the honourable Minister of the Marine and Blue Economy promised that the project will reduce charges in the sector by at least 25%, but the support given by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to the WACT for increase in their terminal charges is like an economic sabotage “.
His words “WACT had proposed a 100% increase in its charges and we have written a letter to the NSC on the 4th of March to alert them about the dangers in having this increase, but the letter was ignored and we can now see that the NSC is working in collaboration with WACT. If the NSC can support a 100% increase in charges by WACT, it them means that the NSC does not have the interest of Nigerians at heart as they also had this magnitude of increase in charges last year”.
The president of the association asks the NSC to try and justify all these increases in under two years, while noting that Nigerians will bear the brunt of such illegal increases in charges, he charged the authorities at the NSC to rethink this step and conform with the intention of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy to reduce costs of doing businesses at our Ports. He said that this type of action will surely wipe away any advantage that we may have in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It was widely reported in the media that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council has approved a 100% increase in charges at the WACT terminal in Onne, Rivers State.
Otunba Ogunojemite added that this type of action by the NSC shows its inability to handle the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN), a mandatory shipping document required for all cargo shipments to Nigeria. A tool used by authorities to track, manage, and supervise cargo from loading to discharge and to gather information about shipments before they arrive. “The ICTN will be put at the NSC’s corridor and this action shows their lack of readiness to handle this”. He urges the NSC to put a stop to this increase and any other planned one.
“We also got to understand that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council is the architect of all the holiday and weekend charges, we have written so much that the NSC should excersice its powers to stop this kind of capital flight by these foreign companies, but the NSC has foot dragged on taking any action against them, this is an act of economic sabotage by the regulatory body” the APFFLON president insisted”.
“Now, there was something that we read from their post that letters should have come from the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (CRFFN) introducing APFFLON as an agent, but I want restate that we are not agents to the CRFFN, they should understand that we are a pressure group within the sector and some other groups like the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANCLA) have also written them on this matter and kicked against the increase”.
Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, the APFFLON president making his speech at the briefing.
He noted that APFFLON has always been invited to meetings by the NSC and that they are in a good relationship with them, but that it is painful that a government agency given the responsibility to regulate what happens in the sector does not have the interest of Nigerians at heart. It is noted that the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) has been operating at the Onne Port for over forty years now and has a strangle hold on all activities around the Port and its most recent increase in terminal charges is seen by stakeholders as a step too harsh and too far.
During the question and answer session, the APFFLON president also touched on the issue of the registration of associations by the CRFFN and said that the registeration is subject to renewal every six months. Otunba Ogunojemite asks rhetorically whether the CRFFN can in good conscience say that they have been fair in their duties.
The APFFLON president added that “We cannot fold our arms and watch the good efforts of Nigerians and the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy being sabotaged”. He asks that the origin and the ownership of the WACT be investigated as their action has certain negative implications such as causing inflation, causing less trade to be facilitated, less businesses and a general economic downturn in the country.
He asserted that if this increase is not stopped by the NSC, that his association shall escalate actions on the matter and involve the Senate Committee in charge of Maritime affairs as well as other government agencies that should see to it that there is no arbitrary charges. “It is imperative to note that what the national single window policy intended to achieve is to make Nigeria the hub of Maritime businesses in the West Africa area and arbitrary increase such as this cannot help us”, he added.
“When the International Maritime Organisation president visited the then Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council in 2019, he noted that one of the factors that will make our Ports more efficient is a multi-modal means of transportation around the Ports and these are things that the NSC should be pursuing to make our Ports grow and then compete with others favourably and not things like the support of arbitrary increase in charges”¹. Otunba Ogunojemite concluded.
For advertisement and more information, please contactus 08027490195, 08035721540 or email us at greatalternativenigltd@gmail.com or send us messages on x @dn_utomi or on Instagram @utomidili.
